Bucks come almost all the way back

I was at the BC for last night's game. It was a pretty sleepy affair until, part way into the fourth quarter, Brian Skinner finally had enough of watching the Clippers PF Elton Brand casually turn around and bury jumpers over him. On this occasion, when Brand turned into the lane for yet another fade away, Skinner decided to karatechop him across the arm. Brand was given two shots, but that little act of rebellion started the Bucks on their way to one of the most astounding comebacks I have ever seen.

The comeback was fueled almost completely by defense (and incredible one-legged jumpshots by Michael Redd). Defense is all about energy and discomfort. The Bucks were playing decent position defense for 3 1/3 quarters, but the Clippers were scoring at will, because the Bucks weren't playing it with enough energy and weren't making the Clippers uncomfortable.

The prime example was Brand. Skinner was playing decent defense on him, getting a hand in his face on most every shot, but it didn't effect Brand in the least, because Skinner wasn't making him uncomfortable. As soon as he gave him a hard foul, however, Brand was not the same player. He became uncomfortable.

The rest of the Bucks responded to this momentum shift. Suddenly, their defense as a whole became kinetic. That extra burst of hyper energy completely took the Clippers out of the collective comfort zone they had existed in. Suddenly they started throwing the ball away. Suddenly they couldn't make shots. And just as suddenly, the Bucks got back in the game.

They didn't come all the way back, but that's okay by me. It turned out to be one of the better Bucks games I've been to in a long time.

Bucks have NOTHING behind Bogut

I was stunned that Bogut was not in the lineup. I heard nothing about his injury prior to the game. I was horrified to see Jared Reiner in the starting lineup. I then scanned the Bucks bench and saw Bogut barely complying with Commissioner Stern's dress code (he looked dressed for the upcoming Bradley Center Rodeo save for the token sport coat it looks like he threw on as an afterthought). I knew then we would sink or swim without Bogut.

Now let me tell you something you already knew. Jared Reiner sucks. Completely. He stumbled around last night and got nothing done except for some very ill-advised passes that were turnovers. He has no lift whatsoever in the middle. He simply takes up space.

Clearly the Bucks are in bad, bad shape without Bogut and Villanueva. Perhaps its time to reinstate "Bango's Big Board" and the "Bucks Diary 20 spins" game, because the Bucks will be hard pressed to win with Reiner and Damir Markota as two of their 3 prime big men.

Still love for E.T.

Prior to the fourth quarter rally, the loudest the BC got was when the ageless extraterrestrial Sam Cassell entered the game. Yeah, there were boos, but by and large he received a pretty hardy ovation. And he produced. Prior to his back spasms, the Bucks couldn't handle the old guy.

Redd is hurting... but producing big!

I'm going back to my original diagnosis of the incredible Michael Redd. He is a hurting unit. Whenever he reentered the game last night, he was clearly limping -- a telltale sign that his tendinitis is bothering him. Still, he made some unbelievable one-legged circus shots to get the Bucks back in the game. And for the third straight game under Coach K, he put up elite level Eff48 numbers, up in the LeBron/Kobe range. That's because he's producing in more ways than just scoring, and that's great to see. Kudos to Mike for playing in pain and producing like an All-Star.

Fear the Pirahna

I know I've written this time and time again, but I love Ruben Patterson's game. During the Bucks rally, it was all about Redd and the Pirahna. He tied the game with a sweet, sweet left handed reverse that made me jump out of my seat and scream "Fear the Pirahna!". Then he did this pose at midcourt that was like "You know what time it is -- its Pirahna time!". I loved it. I can't remember a Bucks player in the last 10 years who has been more electrifying than Ruben.

Bucks Diary Eff48 Boxscore

103
Patterson.......................................30.66
Redd.............................................30.00
Bell...............................................27.42
Skinner..........................................24.00
Williams..........................................22.73
Reiner............................................06.00

104
Brand..............................................31.25
Maggette...........................................31.05
Hart................................................24.77
Kaman..............................................19.20
Mobley..............................................18.00
Ewing................................................09.00
Ross..................................................01.41